Turned shoe



March 15, 1949. D, D WALKER l l 2,464,471

TURNED SHOE` Filed March 30, 1946 2 ,es '/2 a ,0 /2 28 52 Patented Mar. 15, 1949 TURNED SHOE David D. Walker, Malden, Mass., assigner to J. J.

Grover Shoe Co., Inc., Haverhill, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application March 30, 1946, Serial No. 658,447

4 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in shoes.

More particularly it provides an improved turned shoe Which has superior qualities of stability and enduring shapeliness combined with a degree of ilexibility at the forepart exceeding any forepart flexibility which has been practicably attainable in prior turned shoe structures of which the present applicant is aware.

Turned shoes long have been recognized as having various advantages, including greater exibility, as compared with shoes made according to other conventional procedures. The advantages, however, have been accompanied by recognized disadvantages principal among which has been a general lack of stability which causes prior turned shoes to lose their initial shapeliness. Their lack of enduring stability has been attributable to the absence of an insole which, in welt, stitch-downs and cemented shoes, constitutes a major stabilizing element which tends to preserve the initial shape of the shoes throughout their normal useful lives. But the insole also is the element in these shoes which is primarily responsible for increased stiffness as compared with turned shoes.

It has been conventional practice, in the manufacture of turned shoes, to embody a stiiiening element within the shoe after the shoe has been turned. Numerous prior proposals have been directed to increasing the effectiveness of the stiffening means, at the shank and heel regions, but none of these prior proposals has satisfactorily solved the problem of attaining enduring stability in a turned shoe. The problem has remained to harass turned shoe manufacturers until the present invention effectively solved it and simultaneously produced a turned shoewhose natural flexibility not only is preserved but denitely is improved at the forepart region of the shoe.

Hence it is among the objects oi the invention to provide a turned shoe structure having a halfinsole extending Ifrom the ball of the shoe throughout the shank and heel regions and stitched through the outsole by a line of stitching extending at the margin of the insole from the outside ball, along the shank and around the heel seat, and back along the shank to the inside ball.

Another object is to provide a turned shoe having the elements of its upper stitched to the outsole according to conventional practice in turned shoe manufacture and having a halfinsole stitched through the outsole along the side margins of the half-insole throughout the shank region and around the heel seat, with the stitches also extending through the said elements of the upper.

A further object is to provide a method of turned shoe manufacture including the steps of inserting a half -insole in a conventionally stitched and turned shoe followed by stitching the halfinsole marginally throughout its extent with the stitches extending through the already stitched elements of the upper and through the outsole.

It is, moreover, a purpose and object of the invention generally to improve the structure and method of manufacture of turned shoes.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. l is a longitudinal vertical cross-sectional view of a turned shoe embodying features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the shoe of Fig. 1 with the elements of the Lipper in cross-section and with the majorportion of the sock-lining broken away;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional View on line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional View on line 5-5 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 6 is a perspective of the half-insole element;

Fig. '7 is a cross-sectional view of the right side of the shoe structure represented in Fig. 5 on a much larger scale; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view of the right side of the shoe structure represented in Fig. i on a much larger scale.

Referring to the drawing, the upper l0 and its lining l 2 are stitched at I4, around the forepart, to the outsole I 6. At the rearpart the flanged counter i8 intervenes between the upper and lining and the stitches I4 extend through only the upper and the flange of the counter around the rearpart, leaving the lining free. The stitching at lll is accomplished while the upper elements are inside out, after which the shoe is turned, according to conventional turned shoe procedures.

According to the invention, after the shoe has been turned and prior to attachment of the heel 20, a half-insole element 22 is inserted in the shoe and temporarily secured by cement in a precise proper position, after which the halfinsole is permanently stitched all along its side margins and around the heel seat by stitches 24 which extend through the already stitched portions of the upper elements and through the outsole, the outsole preferably being grooved exteriorly at 2S in a usual manner to receive the stitches. The heel 20 then may be secured in place, and a sock-lining 28 preferably is cemented in covering relation to the stitched insole.

Usually, a metal shank stiffener 39 Will intervene between the half-insole and outsole at the shank region, and a metatarsal pad 32 preferably is cemented in place to be covered by the socklining.

The half-insole 22 is preliminarily formed to conform precisely to the shape of the under surface of the last so that, when it is inserted in the turned shoe, it has exact t therein, and eiectively maintains the initial shape of the shoe after it has been stitched securely in place as herein described. The fact that its stitches extend all along its side margins and around the heel seat, and extend through the already stitched portions of the upper, lining and counter ange as Well as through the outsole, assures a stability of structure far superior to any prior turned shoe structure or" which this applicant is aware. Actually a shank and heel structure is attained which is substantially rigid and about Whose forward portion as a hinge the forepart of the shoe readily exes with an ease exceeding What has been cus ternary in what heretofore have been considered flexible turned shoes. Experience has demon strated that shoes made according to the invention retain their initial shape at least as Well as welt shoes and other shoe types employing a full length insole, and they are vastly more fiexible.

I claim as my invention:

l. A turned shoe having a conventional stitched securement of the upper to the outsole all around the shoe, a half-insole extending from approximately the ball of the shoe through the shank region and into the heel region, and a line of stitching, additional to said stitched securement, extending marginally around the half -insole from the outside ball, along the shank, around the heel seat and back along the shank to the inside ball, said half-insole stitches extending through the already stitched portions of the upper and through the outsole.

2. A turned shoe having a stitched securement of the upper and its lining to the outsole around the forepart and having a stitched securement of the upper and counter to the outsole around the rearpart, a half-insole extending approximately from the ball of the shoe throughout the shank and heel regions, and a line o stitching, additional to said stitched securements, extending through the half-insole, the upper, its lining, the counter and the outsole all along the side margins of the half-insole and around the heel seat.

3. The method of stabilizing a turned shoe having a conventional stitched securement of the upper to the outsole all around the shoe, comprising the steps of providing a half-insole to precisely conform to the under surface of the last on which the shoe is being made, inserting the half-insole in the shoe after it has been turned and temporarily cementing the half-insole in a precise proper position therein, followed by permanently securing the half-insole by a line of stitching extending marginally of the half-insole from the outside ball, along the shank, around the heel seat and back along the shank to the inside ball, said half-insole stitches extending through the outsole and through the elements of the upper which were stitched to the outsole prior to turning of the shoe.

4. The method of stabilizing a turned shoe having a conventional stitched securernent of the upper to the outsole all around the shoe, comprising inserting a rugged half-insole in a turned shoe at the shank and heel regions thereof, followed by stitching the half-insole along its side margins and around the heel seat by stitches extending through the outsole and through the elements of the upper which were stitched to the outsole prior to turning of the shoe.

DAVID D. WALKER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 802,075 Engel Oct. 17, 1905 1,241,579 Tilton Oct. 2, 1917 1,302,994 Thissell May 6, 1919 1,366,896 Bates Feb. 1, 1921 1,422,968 Hafertepen July 18, 1922 1,745,627 Lapidus Feb. 4, 1930 1,881,339 Adams Oct. 4,1932 

